A network benchmark update

Previously, I've posted several Comcast / Xfinity's benchmarks for our CATV Internet service.  (Click on "Benchmark" topic at right.)

Lately, the IPv6 service seems pretty reliable with my system.  That was a problem for some time.  It may have been a bad interaction between the Comcast plant and my local routers, but it just went away.  It may have been a Comcast reconfiguration that helped us, but it also could have been an Asus firmware update. I am now running ASUSWRT-MERLIN firmware on the Asus RT-N66U router, which I can highly recommend as an expanded and improved version of the Asus distribution.(It cured a long-standing issue with JFFS2 overflow.)

Again, I highlight the DSL Reports speed test, which checks your "real world" network performance, including the dread "buffer bloat".  Today is Boxing Day (Dec. 26), and DSL-Reports is giving me a so-so report and a good report. Here they are, separated by half an hour:

The variability may be partly due to the speed test's different selection of test hosts.  But it may be something real about Comcast or the Internet "weather".  These tests use IPv6, it appears.

For comparison, between these two tests, Comcast's own speed test shows this:

This is the available speed within the Comcast network, which seems to be the best possible result -- not fully representative of what you experience with a random Internet connection -- even if the server is fast and well-connected. (Note that the driving distance from Branford CT to Boston is really about 144 miles, not under 50. Go figure.)